Great Ocean Walk Day 3: Blanket Bay to Cape Otway Lighthouse

A very nice, short day!

We started the morning with a hearty breakfast — a ham and cheese bâtard and homemade granola. Delicious fuel for the trail ahead.

Our drivers dropped us off at Blanket Bay, right where we’d finished yesterday, and we set off into a light drizzle that gradually turned to rain.

Fortunately, it lasted only about an hour, and the trail more than made up for the grey skies. Though mostly tucked just inland from the shore, we were treated to breathtaking views of churning waves from the clifftops above.

Wildlife was the theme of the day. There was plenty of koala evidence — but those elusive little marsupials stayed well hidden.

Bob reassured me that it isn’t weird to show koala scat in this blog post.

The wallabies, on the other hand, were wonderfully social, crossing our path again and again.

The highlight? A joey peeking its fuzzy head out of its mother’s pouch. Absolutely precious.

We also spotted a group of kangaroos napping lazily in the distance alongside the trail. Bob and I both admitted we never imagined wild wallabies and kangaroos would venture so close to the shoreline — a lovely surprise. We’ve been told that we’ll start seeing more kangaroos as we work our way west tomorrow.

With only 6 miles on the agenda, we arrived at the Cape Otway Lightstation with plenty of time to spare.

Priority 1: Enjoy a scone with the lighthouse standing proudly in the background.

Priority 2: Balance out that scone with our very wholesome packed lunch from the guesthouse!

After lunch, we explored the grounds of Australia’s oldest lighthouse, which was built in 1848. The highlight was an unexpected gift: a private talk with a docent whose family helped operate the lighthouse in the 1950s.

Our driver collected us in the afternoon and shuttled us back to the guesthouse, which gave us time to reflect on something we hadn’t properly appreciated until now — our drivers. It’s a husband-and-wife team: she typically sees us off in the mornings, and he rounds us up in the afternoons. We genuinely look forward to those twice-daily check-ins with them.

We soaked up some unexpected afternoon sunshine before sitting down to another extraordinary dinner: braised chicken and vegetables over creamy mashed potatoes with homemade gravy, followed by banana syrup cake with ice cream.

Bob and I agreed — we are absolutely going to need to walk more than 6 miles a day to keep pace with these meals.

Another early night, and another day we won’t soon forget.